drex

Good to see that Dickey experiences the same 'weird and unpleasant' experiences when he watches the games that we do.

I had to chuckle when I saw the photos of Dr. Bataille. Can you imagine Al Hurley doing this? If so, he would be in a coat and tie and certainly not be wearing a North Texas Football shirt. Way to go, Dr. Bataille.

The band does a great job. I have no complaints, but while we are on the 'Texas theme', here are a couple of things that bother me. One, there is no Texas flag flying at our games and secondly, the Texas flag does not have to be dipped lower than the US flag by the flag corp. As a condition of Texas joining the union in 1845, the Texas flag is allowed to always fly at the same height as the US flag.

No, it is not typical for a coach to leave immediately after a game. Usually they stay around for quite some time. Many make notes, etc., while the game is on their mind. Flanagan was probably headed to an SMU game watching party since the Ponies were playing out in El Paso and he could catch the second half.

I went to the Athletic Hall of Fame Breakfast on Saturday morning and Dr. Bataille spoke briefly. I found it very interesting that she already has picked up on the fact that the university is so little known nationally. She was referred to as new president of a small school in northern Texas in some publication. She immediately shot back a response to the author of the article pointing out that she was the new president of a large in school in north texas and told of enrollment, degrees, etc. The point that I want to make is that I think that she will use athletics to get the perception of the school up. She may not eat and sleep athletics, but I think that she is going to ride the athletics horse to upgrade perception of the school I look for marked improvement in athletics future with her.

In the event that North Texas decided to go back to Division I football, it would be a great series. Currently, we could not compete with TCU and it would be an embarassment.

The more that I look at our situation now, I think that FireFightin Rick could have coached those championship teams. The SunBelt was very weak back then. Now, they are getting a bit better and we a regressing.

Bill Blakeley has been in the Hall of Fame for a few years. The Mavs know Blakeley well, as he was a sports agent ( Spud Webb, among others) so they wanted to highlight an old friend. I see nothing wrong with the gesture. Bill is not in the best of health and I thought it was a nice thing for the Mavs to do.

How about the fact that according to the donor list printed in the 2006 football program, Darrel Dickey, Johnny Jones and Tina Slinker do not give a penny to the Mean Green Club. I am sure that most coaches do not either. For the record, Ramon Flanagan does give to the Mean Green Club.

If the ship keeps sinking and the fan base continues to decline (game attendance), there is a real possibility that there will be change. There are some factors that you might want to consider. First, the new president is in her honeymoon period with the school, so she could pull the plug on Darrell. Secondly, the math of empty seats vs. keeping him could factor out in the direction of a new coach. Thirdly, a case can be made that keeping Dickey interfers with the school's intentions of building a new stadium, since he could be seen as a detriment to that end. Fourthly, Dickey's surly attitude toward the fan base had not made him many friends....his remarks about having such a difficult situation here cannot garner much sympathy. There are a number of coaches out there that see this as a good situation for them, not an impediment. There is nothing wrong with the NT situation that a positive attitude cannot cure. Remember, also, that if NT want it done they always find the money...hell, they pissed away $200,000 on a new logo.

I second that emotion.

If homecoming goes like the MT game, the talons can use live ammunition in boomer and not hit anyone at the la. tech game.

If you contact Richard Himmel at the UNT archives, he has prints of Joe. I bet you can buy a print from the archives. Call 940-565-2000 and ask the operator for the university archives.

The 'Good ole Baylor line' is as follows. 'Hey Big Twelve, send us our cut and we will be you whipping boys forever.'

You might be a MUTS fan if your wife braided her armpits for her wedding day.

Since Dickey has admitted to being outcoached and out prepared at least a couple of times this season already, how about a refund of his salary to charity? Take his salary and divide by the twelve games and have him give that amount to charity each time he gets outcoached.

If some you guys will remember, before the Middle Tennessee game in '01 ole Darrell really had his tail in a crack. Anyway, he really opened up the offense against MUTS and later admitted that he did not trust the offense to do as much as he put in for the game. In other words, he has a tendency to not realize how much the offense can really do. I hope he realizes that it is time to let the kids loose again.

I question the advisability of posting anything relative to game plans prior to a game. Kickoff is 6pm, if I am not mistaken. Even if game plans are in place, it still is a tipoff to anyone from Tulsa who might read this.

If I were SMU I would spend a lot of time in the chapel before each game.

You can get the schedules of all Sunbelt teams on the Sunbelt web site.

If this had happened at UT they would still be investigating with an eye on the kid's potential contribution to next week's game.

Here is the dirty little secret that is not really much of a secret. First, the SMU people had a taste of success in the 80's with the salaried Pony Express. They are still living in the 80's relative to expectations for their football team. The reality is that since they did not make the cut from the SWC to the Big XII there is little hope for them to generate the interest or revenue to compete much longer. Now, when they run out of desire and resources, guess who is waiting in the wings to fill the vacuum? Of course, it the little NTSU up the interstate. They realize that we will eventually take their place on the football landscape in the metroplex and this is eating them alive. With continued leadership here at UNT we will methodically climb up the ladder into SMU's old place in the NCAA heirarchy. The primary reason for their demise, however, is that the average football fan in Dallas does not give a hoot about the Mustangs. TCU has done a good job of capturing the Fort Worth fan's interest, and hopefully, we will keep gaining on the fans in Denton and the surrounding metroplex. Please pardon the fact that this is a disertation of the obvious. If we do another roller coaster ride in athletics, then all bets are off and who knows what the landscape will look like five years hence.

I was really impressed with the fact that both fan bases stayed until the end of the game...I haven't seen that many people still in the stands for the closing seconds of the game before.

It should be obvious why the Mustang band changed outfits three times....they had to change their underwear three times....'soiled, you know.'

I think I am going to puke. Once a Mustang, always a Mustang. We know where the heart will be on Saturday.